Historically, the design and manufacturing of integrated circuits are treated as separate phases of the entire integrated circuit fabrication process. The two aspects of integrated circuit fabrication are frequently carried out without much consideration of the other. As a result, integrated circuit designers have a limited understanding of the impact of integrated circuit design on manufacturing cost and efficiency, while wafer fabrication personnel have limited control of incoming integrated circuit designs and consequently have limited ability to maximize equipment utilization. Accordingly, the number of integrated circuits or chips that can be manufactured from a single wafer and stepper throughput are typically less than optimal.